Filtered by: Alum

NUS Computer Engineering alumnus Lucas Ngoo and his co-founders, NUS alumni Marcus Tan and Quek Siu Rui, share with Straits Times reporter Sumiko Tan about their humble beginnings and the future plans for their tech company Carousell.

In 2016, NUS Computing alumnus Kenneth Ham and NUS alumnus Preston Wong founded Treatsure, a mobile reservation app for surplus food. The team created Asia-Pacific’s first takeaway buffet-in-a-box concept in collaboration with over 10 hotels in 2018. App users can purchase a takeaway box and pack leftover food from the hotel's buffet line.

NUS Computing graduate Nicholas Ooi studied at the ITE and polytechnic after secondary school and graduated last year with an honours degree in computing from the National University of Singapore. Nicholas is currently working in a startup he and three other NUS graduates founded called Bantu, a tech solutions startup for volunteer management systems.

StaffAny, a tech startup co-founded by NUS Computing alumnus Jeremy Hon, won the Judges' Choice award at WeWork's Top 100 competition. The startup integrates HR and ops management software for oversee hourly workers. Since its incorporation in January 2018, StaffAny has experienced exponential growth in its deployment — growing 25 per cent per month.

Image recognition startup ViSenze, co-founded by Professor Chua Tat Seng and NUS Computing graduate Li Guangda, announced that it has raised $20 million in a series C funding round, following a $10.5 million series B raise in September 2016. ViSenze was spun out from NUS Computing’s NExT++ research centre in 2012.

Mobile virtual network operator Circles.Life, co-founded by Information Systems graduate Rameez Ansar, announced it will be expanding its presence from beyond Singapore’s shores, with plans to enter Taiwan and Australia this year. Its regional expansion plans come after it closed a Series C funding round led by Sequoia India.

22 January 2019 – Associate Professor Roger Zimmermann, NUS Computing alumni Dr Yin Yifang and Dr Rajiv Ratn Shah, and their collaborators, won the Best Poster Runner-Up Award at the 20th IEEE International Symposium on Multimedia (ISM). The conference was held in Taichung, Taiwan, from 10 to 12 December 2018.

Mr Benjamin Yap, an NUS Computer Engineering graduate, said that the basic grounding he received in areas such as writing good code and adopting good documentation habits was invaluable as he stepped into the working arena. Universities here, on their part, are not ignorant of the changing needs these students face as the push for AI and ML talent gathers pace. NUS Computing’s Vice Dean Professor Sanjay Jain told Channel NewsAsia that all its undergrads are required to read some General Education modules in humanities and social sciences. He also pointed out that all School of Computing undergraduates are required to complete a six-month internship programme, but are also open to taking up opportunities to work with industry players. One example is the Orbital Programme, which he said is a “self-directed, independent work course” allowing students to pick up software development skills and work with industry mentors to develop their projects.

NUS Computing alumnus Loi Luu was selected as one of 10 Innovators Under 35 from the Asia Pacific region by the MIT Technology Review. Loi graduated with a PhD in Computer Science and is currently the CEO and co-founder of Kyber Network, a on-chain liquidity protocol allows decentralized token swaps to be integrated into any application. He received the honour for building a more secure, scalable and usable public blockchain infrastructure.

ViSenze originated within a research centre, NExT, at NUS in 2012 and is founded by NUS Computing Professor Chua Tat-Seng and alumnus Li Guangda. In 2012, the team only compromised of four engineers working out of a small room at the National University of Singapore (NUS). Today, the deep-tech startup is making waves in the AI sector, grabbing some of the biggest names in the retail industry like e-commerce giants ASOS and Zalora as clients. It has been touted as one of the fastest rising startups to watch for in Asia.

Inspired by an Animal Behaviours module in NUS, NUS Computing alumni Muhamad Hanif, Tan Kang Soon, and Eu Yong Xue created the award winning game, Songbird Symphony. The team recruited fellow alumnus Chue Sai Hou and have won multiple awards for their indie game, such as the Judges Choice Award at GameStart Asia, "Best Game Audio" award at the Taipei Game Show, and "Excellence in Game Design" award at the Busan Indie Connect Festival.

NUS Computing alumnus Cheong Chia Chou, managing director of Pictureworks, was named one of five winners in the 17th annual EY Entrepreneur Of The Year (EOY) 2018 Singapore awards. Chia Chou, Masters in Computer Science graduate, won the award in the media and lifestyle category.

FriarTuck, a Singapore-based developer of enterprise software, has raised US$3.63 million in series A funding from Philips, the Dutch tech giant, and Seeds Capital, the investment arm of government agency Enterprise Singapore. FriarTuck is co-founded by Computer Engineering graduate Alan Sevugan and National University of Singapore Associate Professor Martin Henz. The startup develops artificial intelligence-driven tech solutions to make operations more efficient. Its WorkforceOptimizer platform runs the gamut of functions, from budgeting and payroll to managing employee shifts and supply chains.